1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to photograph slide sleeving material. In particular, the present invention is a method for manufacturing photograph slide sleeving material and slide storage files therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Slide sleeves in the form of acetate or clear plastic pages with pockets are commonly used to store photograph slides. These pages are typically 81/2 by 11 inches in size and include five rows of four pockets. Twenty 35 mm photograph slides can therefore be stored on a page. One edge of the page is generally adapted to be inserted in a ring binder or suspended from a hanging file. Manufacturers of slide sleeving pages of the types described above include Photo Plastic Products, Inc., Pacific Foto Supply Company, Plastican Corp., Vue-All, Inc., and Picture Pocket Corp.
Slide sleeve pages of these types appear to be individually manufactured following a sequence of steps. A main back sheet of polymer film material which is typically clear is first laid down. Five individual strips having a width of approximately 17/8 inches are then pulled across the sheet in a transverse direction. The individual strips are then laminated to the main back sheet at locations forming pocket bottom and side walls. The lamination appears to be done by welding or heat sealing. The page is then cut from the main back sheet.
The above-described manufacturing process is relatively expensive due to the discontinuous motion required to form individual pages. Photograph slides must also be manually inserted into the pockets of these photograph pages. This results in added costs for organizations which load large volumes of slides. Although pages of these types work well for storage, they form a rather large package to ship through the mail. Since they cannot fit within the standard four by six inch envelopes used by photofinishers to deliver prints, photograph slides are generally packaged and shipped in boxes. These boxes are heavy, and cost more to mail than envelopes.
It is evident that there is a continuing need for improved photograph slide sleeving material and storage files. Slide sleeving material which can be inexpensively manufactured and used with automatic slide loading equipment is desired. Slide sleeving material which can be packaged in envelopes commonly used by photofinishers, and assembled into storage files, would also be useful.